Adding lyrics to Spotify was one of the best moves the music streaming giant ever made. However, charging for this feature was not their brightest idea. Thankfully, Spotify is fixing this mistake.
Spotify first introduced real-time lyrics in partnership with Musixmatch in November 2021. This feature allowed users to read along with their favorite songs, making it easy to enjoy the music without having to search for lyrics on Genius or Google. It quickly became popular, despite a few flaws.
Then came a surprising decision: Spotify began testing the idea of putting the lyrics feature behind a paywall. Starting in September 2023, free account users could only view lyrics for three songs per month unless they upgraded to a Premium account. By May 2024, this unpopular test had rolled out more widely, hinting that Spotify might make it permanent.
But good news has arrived. Spotify recently announced that lyrics will once again be free for all users. A spokesperson told TechCrunch, “At Spotify, we’re always testing and iterating. This means the availability of our features can vary across tiers and between markets and devices. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be expanding lyrics availability for Spotify Free users so more people can enjoy viewing more lyrics, globally.”
While it’s not yet clear if free users will have the same access as Premium users, it’s certain to be more than just three songs a month.
In a recent earnings call, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek mentioned plans to add more perks and features for free users, and this change is a welcome step in that direction.
So, get ready to sing along to your favorite tunes without any restrictions!
